prompt
Americanadjective
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done, performed, delivered, etc., at once or without delay.
I emailed them asking about my package and they gave a prompt reply.
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ready in action; quick to act as occasion demands.
They were trained to be prompt and competent for any emergency.
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quick or alert.
You're too prompt to take offense.
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She's never prompt in arriving for work, yet she's always the first to leave at the end of the day.
verb (used with object)
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prompts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
prompted,
past participle, past
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prompting
present participle
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to move or induce to action.
What prompted you to say that?
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to occasion or incite; inspire.
What prompted his resignation?
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to assist (a person speaking) by suggesting something to be said.
It's obvious that this witness has been prompted into giving false testimony.
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Theater. to supply (an actor, singer, etc.) from offstage with a missed cue or forgotten line.
I focused on prompting our Cyrano, who had become strangely disoriented.
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Computers. (of a computer system) to send a message or symbol to (a user) requesting information or instructions, usually by displaying the message or symbol on a screen.
Once the home page has loaded, the computer will prompt you to log in to your account.
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Computers, Digital Technology. to request particular output from (a machine learning algorithm) by means of instructions, questions, examples, context, or other input.
verb (used without object)
-
prompts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
prompted,
past participle, past
-
prompting
present participle
noun
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prompts
plural
-
the act of prompting.
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something serving to suggest or remind.
They send an email once a month, which is just the prompt I need to pay my bill on time.
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Commerce.
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a limit of time given for payment for merchandise purchased, the limit being stated on a note of reminder prompt note.
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the contract setting the time limit.
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Computers. a message or symbol from a computer system to a user, generally appearing on a display screen, requesting more information or indicating that the system is ready for user instructions.
When the prompt appears, provide your access code.
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Computers, Digital Technology. a sequence of inputs, often containing instructions, questions, examples, or context, used to request particular output from a machine learning algorithm.
idioms
adjective
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performed or executed without delay
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quick or ready to act or respond
adverb
verb
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(tr) to urge (someone to do something)
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to remind (an actor, singer, etc) of lines forgotten during a performance
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(tr) to refresh the memory of
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(tr) to give rise to by suggestion
his affairs will prompt discussion
noun
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commerce
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the time limit allowed for payment of the debt incurred by purchasing goods or services on credit
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the contract specifying this time limit
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Also called: prompt note. a memorandum sent to a purchaser to remind him of the time limit and the sum due
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the act of prompting
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anything that serves to remind
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an aid to the operator of a computer in the form of a question or statement that appears on the screen showing that the equipment is ready to proceed and indicating the options available
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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promptsimple
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promptssimple
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have promptedperfect
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has promptedperfect
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am promptingprogressive
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are promptingprogressive
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is promptingprogressive
-
have been promptingperfect progressive
-
has been promptingperfect progressive
Past
-
promptedsimple
-
had promptedperfect
-
was promptingprogressive
-
were promptingprogressive
-
had been promptingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of prompt
First recorded in 1400–50; Middle English prompte “ready, eager” (adjective), prompten (verb), both ultimately from Latin promptus “manifest, at hand, ready, quick, prepared,” adjective use of past participle of prōmere “to bring forth, deliver, set forth,” from prō- pro- 1 + (e)mere “to buy, obtain, take”
Explanation
If you're prompt, you're on time. Go ahead and be prompt to class. Also, to prompt is to inspire or make happen. Getting in trouble for being late should prompt you to get a better alarm clock. The adjective prompt can mean "as scheduled," or simply "quick." When you prompt someone, you motivate them in some way: you might offer a reminder, assistance, or even inspiration to do something. For example, honking your car horn prompts your friend to get moving, and speaking up in defense of your classmate might prompt a bully to change his ways. If a director prompts an actor who's forgotten his lines, she reminds him what comes next.
Vocabulary lists containing prompt
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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Essential English Vocabulary, List 1
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"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, Chapters 20–25
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Fleeing L.A. could prompt “a talent bleed-out,” Klowden said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026
With prompt and appropriate medical care, maternal health experts say, women should not die.
From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2026
They may have recognized that participation could prompt questions or conversations about Sept. 11 that they had not previously had or did not wish to have.
From Slate ● Sep. 11, 2026
After a major life event: Remarriage, a death in the family or a move to a new state should prompt a review of your beneficiary designations.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 10, 2026
“What is that?” she asked, prompt to her cue, nevertheless.
From "I, Robot" by Isaac Asimov
These models don’t make decisions; they carry out millions of probability calculations and pick the best one to answer the prompts they’re given.
From Salon ● Sep. 12, 2026
A party gone spectacularly wrong gets a laugh, a sinister figure at the window prompts a scream.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
There were other features in the app that I didn’t fully utilize, like journal prompts, mood trackers, meditations, and more.
From Slate ● Sep. 6, 2026
For years, we’ve been promised proactive AI that eases our burdens, rather than reactive AI that just waits for our prompts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
“Would you like to tell the class a little something about the Dominican Republic?” the old nun prompts me.
From "Before We Were Free" by Julia Alvarez
Those accounts accused Harris of making use of the prompter to answer questions from the audience, asked in English and Spanish, causing Univision producers to set the record straight late Thursday night.
From Salon ● Oct. 11, 2024
I'd like to see how she performs more off the cuff and without an ability to read from the prompter.
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2024
And this is literally live on TV on Sunday with Finneas and the prompter just threw me off.
From New York Times ● Apr. 8, 2022
In addition, actor Adam Huel Potter was guaranteed bit roles in Willis films and served as Willis’ prompter, providing the actor his lines through the ear piece.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 30, 2022
The conscientiousness of the Opposition, i.e. of the most distinguished French and German Bishops, could not be put to a prompter, a more crucial, or a more decisive test.
From Letters From Rome on the Council by Johann Joseph Ignaz von D?llinger
Needed: "Additional and improved bombers, airborne alert, more missiles of existing types, speeded production of Polaris submarines, the promptest possible dispersal and hardening of bases, and a program for civil defense."
From Time Magazine Archive
The Federal Reserve Board's first credit-easing step, in May 1953, "was the promptest response to an economic decline ever taken by a central bank in any country."
From Time Magazine Archive
The day Yastrzemski steps out, museum curators will mark him for promptest delivery.
From Time Magazine Archive
The humanity of the age is doubtless suited to its material wants, and such wants are those which demand the promptest remedy.
From The Bertrams by Anthony Trollope
It was simply wonderful; and he resolved that, if hard work and the promptest possible attention to duty could render him worthy of such good-fortune, neither of these things should be lacking.
From Campmates A Story of the Plains by Kirk Munroe
That trend has prompted researchers to investigate a provocative possibility: Are younger generations accumulating biological damage more quickly, causing their bodies to age faster than expected?
From Science Daily ● Sep. 14, 2026
Wenk can receive multiple AI-generated versions of a work product because colleagues each individually prompted a chatbot, he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026
The disorder that followed prompted the SFA to force both Celtic and Rangers to play their next home Scottish Cup ties behind closed doors.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026
The platform, which has millions of users, is particularly popular among kids, which has prompted regulators to scrutinize its safety.
From Barron's ● Sep. 11, 2026
Then, on a frigid night that month, William Stepson, a twenty-nine-year-old Osage champion steer roper, received a call that prompted him to leave his house in Fairfax.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
A federal judge in Oakland temporarily blocked the deal, prompting Paramount to agree not to finalize the acquisition until after a trial or June 1, whichever comes first.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026
Clinics and medspas, promising people transformational weight loss, are procuring and selling an experimental drug that hasn’t gotten through government approval, prompting serious safety concerns.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
Age gaps in digital literacy are a global concern, yet the gulf has widened massively in the hyper-connected and fast-ageing country, prompting national campaigns to bridge it.
From Barron's ● Sep. 14, 2026
Portions of the new liner then began peeling away, prompting repairs and eventually the vandalism investigation.
From Salon ● Sep. 12, 2026
A million little silver strands burst in the serpent’s face, prompting it to recoil and blink its way through the sparkly cloud.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
